Sunday 21/6 Grassington, Yorkshire Dales National Park

The Grassinton Music Festival is on. Going out in the car deemed too hard. Narrow little streets hard enough to negotiate at the best of times in a small car, let alone the Mercedes we were given a free upgrade to. Then add swarms of people all,wandering down the middle of the road and streets blocked off into the mix and it all seemed too hard. So we opted for a 6kms loop walk through the countryside around Grassington which is meant to take a couple of hours but which took us about 4 because we had to keep stopping to admire the views.

 

We started off from the bottom of the village and following the discrete (so discrete that at times it was hard to find them) marker posts down Sedber Lane. A steep little path that leads from the village down to the old mill and mill houses on the River Wharfe

 

The view to the East from the path

 

 

 

The River crosses the South Craven Fault line here as evidenced by the raised rocky limestone that forms the Linton Falls

 

 

The view looking up River

 

 

Meadow flowers beside the River

 

 

Lawrence crossing a style

 

 

 

Along the River toward Lower Grass Wood

 

 

Looking across the River from Lower Grass Wood. This riverside stretch of woodland is owned by the Woodland Trust and forms part of the largest area of 'ancient' woodland in the National Park. However Dutch Elm Disease has wiped out the Elms, with ash oak now the predominant tree species.

 

 

After walking up through Lower Grass Wood we crossed a lane and entered Grass Wood. View from the edge of Grass Wood

 

 

Grass Wood.

 

 

Looking out from Grass Wood

 

 

These stone barns were built in the late 1700-early 1800s. Hay crops were grown in the small fields with the stone walls around them to keep out the stock. Once the crop was cut and dried it was stored in the nearby barns and sheep and cattle were allowed to graze the stubble. Then in winter cows were stabled in the barns and fed on the hay. Everyday the farmers walked from barn to barn milking, watering and feeding the cows the stored hay.

 

 

Our walk took us past the above barn and through a couple of fields. Looking back to Grass Wood

 

 

And looking out over the valley.

 

 

We followed this path through the fields and passed a couple of the old barns.

 

 

Then up a farm lane way

 

 

Up across another paddock and looked back to where we had come out of Grass Wood

 

 

Looking across the valley

 

 

Over another style. There were lots of different styles of styles

 

 

Looking back to Grass Wood and the fields across which we had walked

 

 

Another style to cross

 

 

After climbing the style and crossing the next field we went through a little gate onto a laneway leading back to Grassington Village. Once there we walked down through the village still seething with people. We had a quick bite in the square and listened to some music and then staggered back to our cosy retreat for a bit of R&R. Our little downstairs living room

 

 

Our upstairs bedroom

 

 

And the view of the garden from our terrace. Very nice.

 

 

We went to the local Indian Restaurant for dinner. Nothing to rave about. But it was a nice change from  pub food.